


Its Own Reward

by DesireeArmfeldt



Category: due South
Genre: Angst, Community: ds_snippets | dsc6dsnippets, Friendship, M/M, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Snippets, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-03
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2018-01-11 01:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1167041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesireeArmfeldt/pseuds/DesireeArmfeldt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray is not a patient person, but he's learned to fake it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Its Own Reward

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the prompt "Charge through the past and the future of now/ Come to it sparingly/With what you are carrying" at [ds-snippets](http://ds-snippets.livejournal.com).
> 
> Angst-to-hope ratio: high.

Ray has never been a patient guy.  But he’s learned to fake it.  When it really counts.

He’s learned to say, _Take your time, no big rush_ when he wants to yell, _Tell me now!_ He’s learned that the biggest danger when you push someone for an answer is not that they might say _No_ , but that they might say _Yes_ and then find out later that they really _should_ have said _No._

He’s stared himself down in the mirror and repeated, _Anything worth having is worth waiting for_ until he felt like he could go out and get through the day without exploding from the need to _know_ , one way or the other.  He’s pretty sure it really is possible to die of waiting, but he’s damned well determined to let it kill him before he shoots himself in the foot yet again.

Fraser’s worth it, if anything in this world is worth a damn.

Turns out, though, that he has no idea what to do if he waits for Fraser to make his own decision in his own time and Fraser never does.  Which is as near to _No_ as makes no difference.

Ray gives in and pushes, then, because he’d never forgive himself if he let Fraser leave and it turned out he’d just been waiting for Ray to ask, all along. But all he gets is _I’m sorry_ and _Thank you_ and _Still friends_ , and of course, anything you say, Frase, because they _are_ friends and it’s not Fraser’s fault.

And Ray’s got four years of good times to show for his patience, which is better than the nothing he would’ve gotten if he’d pushed, last year or way back in the crypt his first week on the job.

Definitely.  No question.

Patience pays off.


End file.
